This four-volume collection presents the key publications which exemplify the participant observation tradition in sociology and social research, an increasingly important method used in qualitative research and ethnography. Such research usually involves a range of methods: informal interviews, direct observation, participation in the life of the group, collective discussions, analyses of the personal documents produced within the group, self-analysis and life-histories. Volume One covers the origins of participant observation in the ideas of the Chicago School sociologists and the process by which social researchers tried to develop and appropriate method of empirical research alongside the attempt to formulate a satisfactory notion of sociology. Volume Two presents the theoretical and methodological refinement and Volume Three draws on the wide variety of contexts and domains in which participant observation has been used. Finally Volume Four presents contemporary examples of participant observation studies and related approaches from a variety of domains, including system design.With the increasing push toward ethnography in a wide variety of disciplines - from nursing to education - this timely collection will be invaluable to scholars engaged in qualitative research.